FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



177 



So you will hardly blame me if instead of resting con- 

 tent with forced swarming I continue to pursue that will- 

 o'-the wisp — in the opinion of many — non-swarming. 



Fig. 57. — Folding Seciloub. 



KEEPING COLONIES QUEENLESS.- 



The next season after practicing the removal of two 

 frames of brood, I settled upon a plan which I felt pretty 

 sure would prevent the possibility of swarming. It was a 

 no less radical measure than to keep the colony queenless. 

 I reasoned that as I had never had a queen hatched inside 

 of eleven days from the time the queen was taken away, 

 or from the time the bees started queen-cells, the colony 

 was safe from swarming if once in ten days I took away 

 their brood and gave them fresh ; also, that it was only 

 bees over two weeks old that worked in the field ; add to 

 this the three, weeks that it took from the egg to the full- 

 fledged worker, and it was five weeks or more from the 



